Why your English is BETTER than you think

Today I have a bit of good news for you. Your English is probably better than you think. If you're somebody who's ever wondered if you have a strong accent or you don't have a large enough vocabulary to speak with people, then listen carefully because in today's video I'm going to share something with you that might surprise you. You see, I've worked with thousands of students over the last few years and I've spoken to them directly and one of the things that almost all of them tell me at some point is, my English is bad. And at first I would look at them confused because they were having a conversation with me in English. I could understand them, they were articulating themselves well enough, yet they still thought their English was bad. But as time went on, this became such a common pattern that I had to look into it more. Why were so many students telling me that their English was bad when it actually wasn't? And what I found made total sense. This is actually a psychological phenomenon. It's called the Dunning Kruger effect. Maybe you've heard of this before. The Dunning Kruger effect is when less skilled people overestimate their abilities and those who are more capable underestimate theirs. That sounds crazy, I know. That almost sounds counterintuitive. What the Dunning Kruger effect is saying is that if you're better at something, you're actually more likely to think you're bad at it. Once I learned about this, it allowed me to help my students much more effectively because language is so psychological. Language is not just grammar, it's not just vocabulary, it's not just how you move your mouth to pronounce sounds correctly. No, it's confidence. It's how you feel about yourself. What kind of image you project to other people. And ever since realizing this, I focused a lot more on the psychological aspects of learning a language. Another common theme that I've noticed is that students often compare themselves to native speakers. But not just any native speaker, the best and most well-spoken native speakers. They watch a Hollywood movie, they see an actor delivering their lines perfectly. And of course, movies are scripted and they're not representative or reflective of real life. And you see that and you think, wow, my English is nowhere near that level. I must be bad. But if you think about it for a moment, the average native speaker doesn't speak like that. Native English speakers use filler words all the time, like um, uh, like, and they even use incorrect grammar or spell things the wrong way. I'm guilty of this too. I'm not perfect. So stop comparing yourself to an impossible to achieve ideal. Another exercise you can do is to take a step back and to disconnect from yourself. Imagine you're a fly on the wall and you're watching yourself communicate with other people in English. But instead of just focusing on you, you're watching the other people speak, you're listening to what they have to say, and you're disconnecting from your thoughts and your feelings in that moment. I want you to treat yourself like you would treat anybody else in a conversation. You probably don't judge other people. You probably aren't as focused on their mistakes, their pronunciation, their vocabulary, as you are on your own. So take a step back and try to disconnect from that. Lastly, if you can understand what I'm saying in my videos, your English is good. You have a strong foundation. You might not be perfect, and I know I speak a lot more slowly than many native speakers, but if you can understand what I say, your English is good. Real world conversations are naturally messier. You have distractions. You have background noise. So yes, if you're watching me here on YouTube, you might be better able to understand me than if we were on the street or if we were in a different environment. But that doesn't change anything. If you can understand me, your English is good. You have a solid foundation, and you need to stop underestimating your abilities. I hope this video could serve as a little bit of motivation. If you found it useful, and you haven't yet subscribed, make sure to subscribe to English at the Ready here on YouTube. Leave a like, and let me know in the comments if something I said resonated with you. If you want to study English with me and my team of experienced teachers from the US and the UK, click the link in the description below to apply. We have several programs available if you're looking to improve your English in more depth. Hope you found this video useful, and I'll see you in the next one.